Thinking about your own demise tends to be low on the list of priorities — unless it involves considering what will happen to your hard-earned money and real estate once you die. That’s what tends to arouse passions about what should go to whom and how much, and, of course, how to avoid giving an outsize chunk to Uncle Sam.

The tax deal that President Obama announced Monday and that looks likely to pass Congress contains a less-than-onerous federal estate tax. Even so, you might have to pay more attention to the inheritance tax rates imposed by your state to protect your heirs, writes Robert Powell. Check out his story for four other ways the new estate-tax deal could affect your financial planning.

Plus, don't miss our stories honoring MarketWatch’s CEO of the Decade, determined by the editorial staff after a three-month process, and our annual CEO of the year, awarded by reader votes this time. It was a tough race in both categories, but two separate candidates in vastly different businesses rose to the top. See who they are and why they had the right stuff.

Finally, today’s Health Matters blog examines how frank talk about health care may be Elizabeth Edwards’s biggest public legacy after her death from cancer on Tuesday. And a pair of personal reports from Marshall Loeb in New York and Lisa Twaronite in Tokyo reflects on the 69th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Five ways the new estate tax deal affects you

Apple’s Jobs: Rock star of Corporate America

Steve Jobs is known as both mercurial and visionary, part rock-star CEO and part master salesman, a meticulous micromanager who can drive his employees to distraction — and one of the most important figures in American industry in the past half-century. Read more on Apple’s Jobs: Rock star of Corporate America.

Ford’s Mulally wins CEO of the Year award

Legacy of Elizabeth Edwards includes frank talk about health

It’s hard to find a public figure as candid and compelling as Elizabeth Edwards, a lawyer and health-reform advocate best known as the estranged wife of former Democratic vice-presidential nominee John Edwards. She died Tuesday morning at her home in Chapel Hill, N.C., only a day after announcing her decision to end cancer treatment on doctors’ advice that it wouldn’t be productive, according to a family statement. She was 61 years old. Read more on legacy of Elizabeth Edwards includes frank talk about health.

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